My Books!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

XVII Seventeen: Book One

Back in the ‘90s, Mike Judge did a cartoon on MTV called
“Daria,” that went for five seasons. My daughter and I watched every episode
together, and I recommend the experience to anyone with a girl in middle
school. Daria is a teenager attending a typical American high school. She’s
smart and witty, but high school forces her into an artificial hierarchy where
sports, fashion, and other conformist pursuits determine one’s position.
Episode by episode, she’s confronted by pressures that reduce her peers to
caricatures but she survives (though does not necessarily thrive – it is high
school, after all), wrapped in a protective bubble of dry sarcasm.

Mike Judge was also the guy who did “Beavis and Butthead,” which I think is one
of the most underappreciated shows ever. On the surface, it’s about two high
school freshmen whose incredible stupidity gets them into trouble, but there’s
another, more substantial story beneath. Beavis and Butthead don’t seem to have
any responsible adults around them at all. They’ve spent their entire lives in
front of a television, and we shouldn’t be surprised that shallow consumerism
has become their only value. Their adventures amount to little more than
searching for whatever’s “cool” while avoiding all that “sucks,” and always
leave them as empty as they were when they started, albeit usually somewhat
more physically damaged. It does feel rather satisfying to watch them meet
hilarious ends they’ve brought upon themselves, but there’s a measure of
sadness, a sense of waste to the show that tends to stick with you.

What kind of music
you like?

The last two major concerts I’ve attended were both by Roger
Waters of Pink Floyd. I saw “Dark Side of the Moon” in Chicago and “The Wall”
in Boston. I can appreciate all kinds of music but my favorite type by far is
anything dark and hypnotic that stands for something or makes a point. I can
take one or the other. Bob Dylan makes a point and I love his work, but he’s
about as hypnotic as a kazoo. Enigma makes trippy sounds but doesn’t say much.
I’m hooked on lyrics, baby. Artfully tell me something real.

How would you spend
ten thousand bucks?

Assuming I was barred from doing something boring and
responsible, I’d buy a motorcycle to replace the one I left behind in South
Korea. I taught myself to ride there, and at the time, that country led the
world in traffic accident fatalities. In Korea, as in much of Asia, mass times
velocity equals right of way, and nobody bluffs. I had no safety course, took no
test, and had no idea what I was doing, but I bought a bike for a big brick of
cash and followed all the other motorcyclists, weaving between cars, passing on
sidewalks, and flirting with death moment by moment.

Here in the States, I’d love a bike big enough to take on
the highway, maybe for a book tour. This time around, I’ll take the safety
course.

SEVENTEEN

By

Mark Diehl

BLURB:

Most of the
world's seventeen billion people are unconscious, perpetually serving their
employers as part of massive brain trusts. The ecosystem has collapsed, and
corporations control all of the world's resources and governments. A bedraggled
alcoholic known as the Prophet predicts nineteen year-old waitress Eadie will
lead a revolution, but how can she prevail when hunted by a giant corporation
and the Federal Angels it directs?

EXCERPT:

The
old man wrung his hands, looking Hawkins up and down. Hawkins scrolled through
some text and found the name again: Stuckey. Another gee-whiz dimwit citizen,
eager to please. Stuckey’s eyes went back up, from Hawkins’s acid-resistant
all-traction black shoes, to his flexible, abrasion-proof gray uniform – cut in
the old-fashioned suit style with lapels – to his perfectly Gold complexion and
salt-and-pepper, closely-trimmed hair.

“Never
had a Federal Angel in my place before,” Stuckey said, though Hawkins barely
heard him.The Agent was closely observing
the movements of a young, redheaded waitress setting plates on a table. As she
leaned over, the girl kept her knees pressed tightly together, as her panties
were clearly exposed with every bend of her waist. “I wish I could help you
more; dropped that danged computer in a pot of soup when it was all going on –
corporate’ll be furious, of course, but you’ve gotta tell ‘em so you can get
the information you need. I hope my blunder doesn’t slow down your case,
though. God’s will, right? God to the President to you, the Federal Angels.
Geez. I never thought I’d actually meet one of you.”

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Mark D. Diehl writes novels about power dynamics and the way people
and organizations influence each other. He believes that obedience and
conformity are becoming humanity’s most important survival skills, and that we
are thus evolving into a corporate species.

Diehl has: been homeless in Japan, practiced law
with a major multinational firm in Chicago, studied in Singapore, fled South
Korea as a fugitive, and been stranded in Hong Kong.

After spending most of his youth running around
with hoods and thugs, he eventually earned his doctorate in law at the
University of Iowa and did graduate work in creative writing at the University
of Chicago. He currently lives and writes in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Let's Tour

The Captain and the Cheerleader

Rest Thy Head

Elaine Cantrell

About Me

I've been married to the same wonderful man since 1973. We've been blessed with two great sons and three wonderful grandchildren. We live in a small town with our families nearby and count ourselves fortunate to do so.